an update on the hurricane sandy relief bill making its way through congress. "washington journal" is next. >> nobody will get 100% of what they want. let's make sure middle-class families and the american economy and the world economy are not adversely impacted because people cannot do their jobs. host: the headline in this morning's "washington post" -- president obama and senate leaders were on the verge of an agreement that would let taxes rise on the wealthiest households while protecting the vast majority of americans from tax hikes set to hit in january. welcome to the saturday edition of "and the washington journal." for the first 45 minutes of the program we are going to be talking about senate negotiating a fiscal clifts deal, what has been going on on that half of the capital. see what they are talking about and how things are going. we want to get your input and your part of the conversation. you can reach out to us on twitter. facebook, facebook.com/cspan. and you can send us an e-mail. this is more from the article, the lead story in "the washington post." they ride, the

superstorm sandy. >> one of the highlights was new jersey's own bruce springsteen. >> ♪ we'll take what we can carry ♪ >> "the land of hope and dreams" is about sticking together during tough times. the boss played the opening notes of the new york benefit. >> ♪ meet me in the land of hope and dreams " >> springsteen's native new jersey was particularly hard hit. this date is set to receive 40% of the concert proceeds -- the state is set to receive 40% of the concert proceeds. rocker pete townshend and the who also chipped in. and "another brick in the wall." ♪ >> i sort of feel like a new yorker. i was very pleased to come here tonight and be able to stick in my -- to help the people who have been badly affected by this storm. >> it has been six weeks since sandy pummeled the u.s. east coast, leading 120 people dead. thousands of homes remain uninhabitable. the concert raised tens of millions of dollars to help them rebuild. the rolling stones played their part, too. mick jagger joked it was the most old man he had ever seen on one stage -- most old men he had ever seen on o

twachlt the labor department says superstorm sandy had little affect on those numbers. >>> the markets continue their familiar pattern of following the latest word or words or hopes on the fiscal cliff. no major moves during the week, but several times the market ran ouof steam toward the end of the trading session. as for the fiscal cliff, the house of representatives left for a long weekend on wednesday. while there mayay be some behind-the-scenes action in terms of the talk k no one from the houses home. they announced 11,000 layoffs from citi. the markets liked the move. the stock rallied on the expense cuts. netflix andd disney announcea licensing agreement thatat will give netflix the right to show disney movies shortly after the they leave the theaters. so much to talk about, the fiscal cliff, jobs numbers, the state of the economy who better to talk about it than robert reich and current economics professor at the berkeley. let's talk about the numbers. on friday the surprisingly strong jobs numbers, 146,000 new jobs created. the unemployment rate 7.7%. we were expecting impact

unemployment rate dropped two tenth of a% at 7.7%. the labor department also says superstorm sandy had little effect on those numbers. >>> the markets continued their familiar pattern of following the latest word or words or hopes on fiscal cliff. no major moves during the week but several times the market ran out of steam to the end of the trading session. the house of representatives left for a long weekend on wednesday. so while there may be behind the scenes action in terms of talks, no one from the house is home. big moves by citigroup's new chairman and ceo. he announced 11,000 layoffs this week. citi will take a pre-tax charge of more than a billion dollars. the markets liked the move. the stock rallied about 7% on the expense cuts. >>> a big deal for netflix and dismy, they announced a licensing agreement to show disney movies shortly after they leave the theaters. the fiscal cliff and jobs numbers and state of the economy. who better to talk about all of that than robert reich, former secretary of labor in the clinton administration and current economics professor at the unive

. he's the father of six year old emly parker, one of the victims in the sandy hook elementary school shooting in few town, connecticut. >> hello, i am mike huckabee. i am coming to you live in new york city . our nation is in shock over the senseless and unspeakable tragedy that took place in newtown, connecticut. the shooter killed his mother in her home and then to a elementary cool where he gund down 20 opportunitis and teach ares before he took his own life . molly? nthe community has been pulling together since this horrific massacre. there are numerous vigils and we are getting word that president obama is it joining the community and an interfaith vigil. ther joining together and healing the community. it is it a difficult and long road ahead when you think about the victims in this case. and so many lives lost and 12 little girls and eight little boys and six women. two of the women killed were so young. beginning their careers in education . in their twens and one just 30 years old and all of these women trying to protect the children. the youngest victim named noah.

educators that were there at the sandy hook elementary school debt helped the kids get away from the shooter and get out of the building. in "the new york times," they talk about two that went the extra mile. we will talk a little bit more about the principle and the school psychologist who were among the six adults killed yesterday. the next call comes from catherine in florida. caller: my mom has been a teacher for over 20 years. i have a six-year old daughter and a niece and they go to the school she teaches at. when i heard the news, i thought, this could have been our little school. it is devastating and just disgusting what has happened. i think that our country needs to take a look at what we can do as far as security at these schools. i think something needs to be mandated to protect the children. we cannot continue to let this go on. host: talk to me about the security measures that they have at the school where your kids go to school. caller: there is a fence around the playground around the sides of the school. everything stays locked during the day. you have to go through

sounded like at least 100 rounds being fired. >> this is the scene at sandy hook elementary school. sources saying the suspect is also among the dead and that the body is in a classroom at the school. police say they have recovered two weapons from the suspect. the students kindergarten through fourth graders were all evacuated to a nearby fire station. all schools in the area are under lock down right now. >> law enforcement officials has -- have confirmed the shooter has been found dead inside the school building. >> officials say the scene of the shooting is now secure. >> there were several fatalities at the scene, both students and staff. the shooter is deceased inside the building. >> the governor took a call from president obama a little while ago, who was calling to express his condolences and condolences on behalf of the nation and pledged whatever resources the federal government can bring to bear to assist the families and to assist in the investigation. >> all right, let's go over to washington. our correspondent is there on the story for us. what more can you tell us r

of hurricane sandy will likely slow down growth in the fourth quarter. meanwhile, investors are keeping an eye on washington as the deadline to avert the so-called fiscal cliff comes ever closer. >> a different kind of click now -- thousands of mystics, new-age and deals and fans of pre- hispanic culture made their way to mexico in hopes of witnessing great things in less than 24 hours now. that is when the old mayan calendar predicts the end of the current world and the dawn of a new one. >> many of today's ethnic maya do not understand what all the fuss is about. mostly christian, they have looked on in wonder at the influx of foreign tourists to ancient cities in southern mexico and central america was a past hundreds of years ago. -- whose heyday past hundreds of years ago. >> they are dancing according to an ancient mayan ritual in preparation for the end of the world. these days, the famous complex in guatemala is full of visitors. many tourists have come to experience the big day. >> there are mixed feelings. some believe the world is going to end. others believe it is th

communicating with law enforcement and with parents. principal at sandy hook shared with parents an important letter about the schools lockdown procedures, talking ho schools admitted.ents would be host: we have a question on ngfileclerk. boriongfilecler guest: schools are places for children to learn and to feel safe. they are not fortresses and prisons. we would not want to send our children to places where there would be confined. it is important to understand that school districts need to work with their local law enforcement agencies to decide for themselves whether it is important to have some kind of armed presence. oftentimes that works very well . one thing that our state associations in courage is for school boards to have an open line of communication with their local law enforcement organization so resources can be available to school districts. host: an article from "the sentinel" in new hampshire -- host: this story came out yesterday afternoon. host: that from the superintendent in the district. talk about this funding situation that school systems are facing. guest:

such evil exists in the united states and in sandy hook in particul particular, but that's the nature of the world we live in, i guess. >> evil without a doubt. so close to christmas in the middle of hanukkah, we're hearing some folks in newtown are even taking down their decorations and telling reporters they feel guilty while celebrating anything, >> investigators are pouring over the school inch by inch as we heard just a few moments ago, a clearer picture is starting to emerge as well of the shooter, and adam lanza, speaking it various media outlets, describing a terrible young man and some saying it's a hidden time bomb and joining us now is former new york city detective john bassa. and first of all, i want to talk to you about the young man, but the crime scene itself and we heard from the police lieutenant at the top of the hour talking about the crime scene still being very active. we know that the victims are still inside the school. as far as we know. first of all, why must they be left in there for so long and not returned to their loved ones and what's going on now as far

would not be any worry about paying for sandy, unemployment, paying for three wars. there would not be anything to worry about if the republican was in office. they want to spend every dime they can. host: jackie from georgia, thank you for the call. this is from our twitter page. t's go to the jump page -- let's go to the jump page for a story in "the washington post." point.nd one othoer poier here's more from mcconnell. [video clip] >> we took that vote back on july 25. it did not originate in the house. it has no chance of becoming law. that is what i said back on july 25. we allow that vote and i said we knew it did not pass constitutional muster and that democrats would proceed to a revenue bill that originated in the house as the constitution requires if they were serious and as i called on them to do last week. the so-called senate bill is no more than a glorified sense of the senate revolution. let's put that talking point aside. host: mitch mcconnell -- or is a story from politico.com, "why they will not go over the cliff." "they see an advantage in negotiating with republica

mention something about the sandy hook incident. i found it ironic that these people were meeting in the school for all this prayer. when prayer's outlawed in school. also, they had the high priest of abortion there giving his appeal which became very political. that is just ironic. host: a lot of the conversation is about these extended clips. how do you feel about those? caller: i have a different take on owning assault rifles and extended clips and things like that. we are guaranteed by our constitution bill of rights to be able to own these things. it is not necessarily for home protection as much as it is to be ready in case we need to refresh the tree of liberty with the blood of tyrants or to protect ourselves from invasion. i don't see anything wrong with being able to own these. i tell you what. that sandy hoook thing was such a crushing event for all of us. we have to think this stuff through more. host: have you ever had the opportunity to use your weapon or to pull it out? caller: not since vietnam. host: scott, good morning. caller: i believe the gun laws should be ch

heritage foundation. a disaster aid package for states hit by superstar sandy in light of october. the committee released a draft of the legislation yesterday. tom coburn noted there was significant waste, fraud, and abuse in a federal spending and he does not want the same thing to happen if sandy aid is rushed through congress. testimony on senate's impact on small businesses. you could hear live at 10:00 a.m. on c-span radio. those are some of the latest headlines on c-span radio. [video clip] >> we do know the story of the cold war. we have seen the archives that describe relationships between roosevelt and stalin and truman. we have read and written the main events. i wanted to show what it felt like to be one of the people that were subjected to the system and how did people make choices and how did they react and behave. one thing that has happened is the -- we still call eastern europe has become differentiated. these countries no longer have much in common with one another. >> more with anne applebaum from her historical narrative sunday night at 8:00 p.m. on c-span. >> "

washington post" this morning. also in the aftermath of super storm sandy, here is "the new york post" this morning -- below that is a story with the headline -- our coverage today will continue, a review of fema's prepared this in the aftermath of hurricane sandy. that hearing will be live on 10:00 a.m. on c-span3 this morning with the fema administrator. back to your phone calls. a democratic caller, good morning to you. caller: yes. good morning. i just have a few things to say. the government could put a freeze on a lot of things. if they puts a freeze on these things, i would give the peopl e time to spend money. also, they are talking about medicare. i don't understand why medicare has to be a big thing. i pay medicare every month. $100 comes out of my check for medicare. i am not understanding why medicare is such a big problem when we have paid into medicare. the government is not giving us anything. that is all i wanted to say. host: the front page of "the washington post" -- itss about aarp anand lobbying efforts. that is an "the washington post" today about the aarp. here i

republican caller in california, sandy. caller: i just went through an experience with my mother who went from the hospital to a nursing home and was told she could not have any rehabilitation services, that she was only allowed to stay in the nursing home seven days. then we had to make arrangements with hospice. they will all the paper that seven days. and she has to pay for everything else honor own. if hospice came to her house, she will have to pay. she paid into medicare many years. i think all seniors need to be aware and be prepared that this is what will happen to them. that's my experience. host: in philadelphia, rick is a democratic caller. caller: i cannot believe i got through. the last time i spoke with c- span was 2003. give me about a minute and 30 seconds. host: go! caller: i think barack obama should keep doing what he is doing, hold his ground. i think it is cold hearted and evil that these rich people don't want to pay what needs to be paid to keep the country running. everybody in the capital -- what is the definition of entitlement? people in the capital get pen

these kids in sandy, my oldest daughter told me we are going to see lots more of these things unless kids are given a better future to hope for rather than being some rich person's slave. host: thank you for the call. guest: you are right. the rich, no matter what the tax level, they have a way of getting around their taxes. that goes back to the point i was saying. it is not about what level of rate we put taxes on individuals. we have to reduce spending them big she said obama has given in to republicans paying bank i am not sure what he has given in on. he has not been at the table and then he has been traveling all over the country promoting raising taxes on millionaires and billionaires and then doing their fair share. spending is causing this problem. spending levels and the debt is what is creating this poor economy and the recovery we have seen. obama's failed policies have created such a soft economy today. we have to start dealing with the spending the event we have to treat the problem. that is the outrageous spending we have increased the federal debt by almost double ove

superstorm sandy, accommodative policy by the fed and you think that spurs growth in the u.s. how strong will it be? >> first thing, we have grown 2.5% in the last four quarters. and i think we will go up to 3% growth next year. i think there is some fiscal tightening but that is nothing new. we are getting rapid money growth and record-low mortgage rates, drop in gas prices, drop in the dollar, lower inflation boosting income and it's working because we are getting more parts of the economy gearing. a year ago we had no bank lending and now we have a full year of it. in addition to that, i think next year's profile will be much more impacted by what happens in the emerging world if they pick up again than what is going on in washington. >> i would differ significantly in terms of where we are headed and the recommendation for investors. first, this is the slowest recovery we have had with the sharpness of the recession we had in 2008, 2009. very different from the early 1980s. second, germany, including the rest of the european union seems to be going into a recession and germany

the newtown shootings at sandy hook elementary school. the "new york daily news," just 0 minutes after a moment of silence for newtown victims the nut blames everyone and everything except the guns and they say he is the craziest pan on earth. the "new york post" on their front page, gun nut, n.r.a. alone in bizarre rant over new town. they write national rival association executive vice president wayne lapierre went off the deep end in the gun probe's comments. on our line for democrats kevin, you're on the "washington journal." caller: hello. i've been listening to this for a week now and i really believe everybody is missing the point. host: what's the point? caller: it's the same as -- you ever got to stop everybody from going in. every teacher and bus driver and parent has an i.d. if you're not on the visitors list you can't get in. the schools can hire are couple more combleas to monitor the hallways and outside and you have to get through a gated community get in. i go on golf courses and see three or four guards before i see the way to get to the golf course. you have to

: sandy, a republican caller in virginia. thanks for waiting. hello? p in long island city, new york, independent. -- pete. caller: my opinion is, i believe the president actually wants to go off the cliff. i really do. i think he really wants to tax the rich no matter if the derickson pour or not and before we cut any social programs in this country we should stop giving aid to countries that hate us. -- he wants to tax the original matter if it hurts the poor. guest: senator patty murray says going off the cliff might be preferable to signing a bad deal. i think president obama felt a little burned from the 2011 budget talks with john boehner, so he is driving a harder line, having won reelection. the idea of letting the tax rate on the top 2% go up is not really a surprise. i think everybody agrees that he campaigned on that. there are millions of people who voted for him that are expecting that to happen. host: the style section of the washington post has a piece about the director of legislative affairs at the white house, rob neighbors. what is his job? guest: behind closed doo

jersey and conduct during hurricane sandy. half of them without power, subways, no gas, scenes looked like out of the dresden fire bombing. civilization didn't fall away. there was no crime or violence and things will be look better not morning. it's a testament to resilience and grace under pressure. >> paul: my piss mis go to john roberts for his ruling that the affordable care act is constitutional. he agreed with the four conservatives that the law violated the commerce clause of the constitution which was the

hurricane sandy. half of them without power. subways, no gas, scenes looks like it's out of the dresden fire bombing but civilization did not fall away. there was no crime or violence. people did the best they could and things will look better in the morning. it's a testament to resilience and grace under pressure. >> paul: my miss goes to chief justice john roberts for his ruling that the affordable care act is constitutional. he agreed that it violated the commerce

and new jersey recover from hurricane sandy. most of the focus is on the immediate recovery, it includes $13 billion as a downpayment towards longer-term payments to protect against future disaster. the question this morning is, as the president begins on his second term, john is joining us from illinois. caller: i will distract a little bit. i hear so much talk about cutting entitlements. we never hear about over spending government waste. cutting some of the money that we need a in order to serve our country. why can we ever hear about where money is going that it should not go like research for monkey science. that is my comment. host: thank you for the call. john on the republican line. caller: i just wanted to say i think the number one priority -- the biggest thing we are seeing in the business world, small businesses are not able to borrow money to expand it. no help from the banks whatsoever. we had to go to independent leasing program. i do not understand why president obama is the president everybody thinks he is. why is he not helping with small business that is so im

sandy was awful. when we bomb and destroy andple's homes and children', it is not a declared war. those people suffered just as much as these people do. the other thing -- we have senators, like mitch mcconnell, and he, his wife, and his in- laws benefit from his position because they are part of a chinese shipping magnate. his wife was secretary of trade under the bush administration. they are using their position to help china, and china is the biggest abortion country in the world. when you throw all this into a big mixture, you cannot blame the gun. host: thank you for the call and comment. a bitter fight had on gun control, according to the washington post. we are following some of the options on what is next. speaker boehner is confronting a political cliff over the budget track is, putting out that the speaker's leadership and legacy remained at stake. they point out that in a show of support, house leader eric cantor. at a news conference with the speaker in a call to extend the tax rates. some have urged congressman tom price of georgia to challenge john deere for the jo

the top level leadership discussions. the senate is going to try to finish work on a sandy disaster aid supplemental bill which they have been trying to get done for weeks. they are hoping to finish that today and also trying to work on a foreign intelligence surveillance act authorization extension. there's enough on the floor to keep them busy. the question is whether they will have something to vote on may be on christmas eve. on sunday joe lieberman indicated we would all be working new year's eve. we will see that happens. host: merideth shiner, thanks for your time. we appreciate the update on the fiscal cliff. here is "politico" -- a lot of similar headlines in other publications this morning. we want to hear from business owners on the fiscal cliff and if it is affecting your plans for 2013. you can see the numbers on the screen. business owners only. small or large businesses. from the hill newspaper -- that's from the hill newspaper this morning. finally, from "politico" -- our first call this morning, from business owners only, about your views on the fiscal cliff, comes

. we know we have to rebuild the states that were ravaged by hurricane sandy. we know that the whole nation needs help. let's roll up our sleeves and send a clear message to our fellow americans in the rest of the country that we are prepared to go back to work. this is neither a democratic or republican issue. infrastructure is vitally important to everyone. it shouldn't take anything more than calling the bill up and voting on it. i think it the other issue that everyone agrees on is the whole issue with regard to the middle class tax cut. everybody, including billionaires', would get a $250,000 tax cut. why risk the uncertainty, why take people to this fiscal cliff during this holiday season when this could easily be addressed? then you can come back and haggle in january. no one has to break a pledge. as tom cole eloquently said, he is not raising anyone's taxes, he is preventing them from being raised on the middle-class. step up to the plate, send that message to the entire world that we are secure. long-term, i think we need to focus on health care costs. paul ryan had it righ

republican, the bill but the senators tried to pass, a 60,000 billion for sandy on the east pork inhere's a lot of that. call your delegates. my question to you, in regard to what i've heard on president obama in regard to social security is trying to incorporate changes cpi -- chained cpi. a person would pay $1,200 more in one year and over. 30 years, $28,000. could you go in depth on that for me? guest: there are different ways of computing the consumer price index. one of those is to change how much we saved for food and shelter and so forth for the proportions of the previous year as opposed to a base year. that gives you a somewhat lower rate of inflation. economists would argue that is more realistic and a fairer way to index and the government benefits. i have a problem with that. as an economist, i'm interested in perfection of measurement. as a guide u.s. to operate in washington, i am also concerned with equity. older folks really have a different basket of goods than and people. when was the last time grandma and grandpa went out and bought a suite of bedroom furniture

.-15 rifle which was the primary weapon used in the sandy hook elementary school massacre. the ones on the rifle, the magazine, the ones on the rifle used in the shooting had a 30-round capacity. users of the rifle can change the barrel, stock, magazine, suggested retail price, around 1,2urks to $1,400. it's military use. some pleps in the u.s. it was founded in 1973 and bought by a capital management in 2006, headquartered in madison, north carolina, manufacturing in new york. is this kind of gun, do you think, john fund, ok to have outside of military use and by police departments? guest: well, again, we had an assault weapons ban in 1994 and 2004. there are a whole bunch of existing guns out there. one of the unfortunate facts and i wish that wasn't the case, we had over 230 million privately owned firearms in this country already existing. millions of those are these semi-automatic weapons. banning them doesn't mean they go away. it means they go into the criminal underground market. you can steal one. you can buy one on the street. unfortunately, i know places in los angeles in

sandy up a center of the northeast. that through a lot of businesses offline. the other was economists thought businesses were getting freaked out by fiscal cliff situation in washington and basically would not necessarily be firing people basically putting everything on hold. they would simply not be making hiring decisions. there is other data saying that is what businesses are doing, and yet we saw a number saying all the new jobs. that indicates there is more momentum summer in the economy. host: retail is at the head of the list with 53,000 jobs. is that because of christmas? guest: they tried to take seasonal jobs out of it. that is not necessarily because of the holiday season. it does show consumers are shopping. that is one of the things you expect to come back early in a recession. those are not all full-time jobs, and they are not high- paying jobs. a lot of my be part-time jobs. it is better than having no jobs coming back. we are seeing those jobs coming back. we are seeing business service jobs, some might be temporary jobs. almost would be my call miscellaneou

grieving families. the shooter forced his way into sandy hook elementary school in newtown on friday morning. u.s. media say it was a man in his 20s and say he had two guns and wearing a bullet proof vest. police say the man fired at children and teachers in two rooms and some reports say the victims include the attacker's mother who was a teacher. more than 600 people attend the children. teachers and police officers took survivors to safety. police are reportedly questioning a brother of the shooter. president obama spoke to the nation. we've endured too much of these tragedies and each team i learn the news i react not as a president but as anybody else would as a parent. and that was especially true today. the majority of those who died today were children, beautiful little kids between the ages of 5 and 10 years old. >>> european union leaders have agreed to consider all options to help syria's opposition forced oust president assad. adopting a statement on syria on friday, the statement says the eu is appalled by the deteriorating situation. >> for a real political proce

shed jobs in construction and manufacturing. officials at the labor department say hurricane sandy did not substantially impact their estimates. some analysts expected the job situation to improve but can't predict how bad the fiscal cliff will affect economic growth. here is dean maki at barclays capital. >> we had 146,000 jobs created. that are pretty much in line with the last two months and right in line with where we think the trend is right now. president obama's re-election clearly reduced one set of uncertainties which was who's going to win the election. we now know that he did win, but it hasn't reduced the uncertainty surrounding the fiscal cliff and what's going to happen there. if the full fiscal cliff were to occur, we'd expect a much worse outcome. probably a contraction in the 1% to 2% range in the first half of 2013. this is a very important issue. the economy was performing reasonably well in the months leading up to the potential fiscal cliff. we saw that in the job numbers for november. we've also seen it in the gdp numbers for the third quarter which rose 2.7%